


Never

by sstwinz



Category: My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 08:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sstwinz/pseuds/sstwinz
Summary: Sunset has been waiting for Twilight to return to the human world, but when she does it isn't anything like she imagined. Perhaps Sunset hasn't changed as much as she thought she had.This story is set during the beginning of Rainbow Rocks!Originally written in 2016!





	Never

Sunset Shimmer had thought that she recognized the scrap of purple hair behind the statue, but she hadn’t believed herself. It had been so long. She told herself that she was only seeing shadows from the growing dusk, but she checked anyway.

“Twilight?” she said in shock after the teen came into view. “What are you doing here?”

“Sunset! Sunset.” Twilight’s face, initially bright, melted into a scowl.

“What?” Sunset said, suddenly panicked. “What did I do wrong?”

“What did you do? What _didn’t_ you do?” Twilight stood up, coming face to face with Sunset and forcing her to back away a few steps.

“You haven’t been here for a while, but I promise I made up for everything.” Sunset frantically tried to explain herself. “I know what I did was wrong, but it’s all better now. I made it better.”

“Be quiet!” Twilight raised a hand and without warning, slapped Sunset across the face. Sunset gaped at her, touching her hand to her cheek.

“Don’t tell me that,” Twilight continued.

“Did something happen back in Equestria?” Sunset asked. “You’re not acting like yourself-”

Twilight raised her hand again and Sunset fell silent. The shadows from the setting sun made Twilight seem larger than life, like she was looming over her.

“Go through it again,” Twilight said.

Sunset started hesitatingly, not wanting to say something that would set her off again. “After you left, I started making up for everything. I’ve practiced friendship. And I’ve made friends. They’ve forgiven me.”

“Liar!” Twilight shouted. A punch, right to Sunset’s jaw, before she even saw Twilight’s hand move. The world went pure white for a moment. Sunset felt herself falling backwards, assisted by a push. Her head hit the grass and she bit her lip. When she blinked her eyes open, she saw Twilight standing above her.

“No one forgives you!”

That hurt more than the punch. Sunset struggled past a lump in her throat. “No, they do. They’ve said so...” Her voice faltered, faced with Twilight’s glare.

“Don’t contradict me. _I’m_ the one who saved the school. I know them better than you. They haven’t forgiven you.”

It wasn’t true. Sunset tried to tell herself it wasn’t true. “You’ve been gone a long time. They-”

“I said,” Twilight said through gritted teeth, “don’t contradict me.”

She raised her leg and slammed it right into Sunset’s ribs. She heard several cracks. It hurt the next time she tried to breathe.

“Please,” she said, crying, looking up at Twilight, “whatever’s wrong, I can fix it.”

“You can’t fix this!” Another slam. “You can’t fix anything!” Another. “You couldn’t even fix your mistakes in Equestria, and I had to clean up your mess!” Another. The strength from her glare made Sunset feel like she was burning.

Sunset took in another gasping breath. The world was watery around her. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“ _You’re sorry, you’re sorry_ ,” Twilight parroted with a sneer. “That’s all you can do. Say you’re sorry. Like that fixes _anything_.” She accentuated her last word with a twist of Sunset’s hair with her boot. Sunset heard roots tear and cried out.

Twilight noticed this and did it again. “ _I'm sorry_ ,” she said. “ _I can fix it. I made it better._ ”

“Twilight…” It hurt too much to talk. Sunset felt the dampness in what was left of her hair where her tears had run into it. Twilight leaned close to her face.

“You’ll never make up for anything,” she hissed. “No one forgives you, and you’ll never have friends! Never!” Sunset watched, shuddering, as she lifted her foot again and brought it down on her face. The world exploded into brightness, then darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunset jolted awake, her body slick with sweat. It took a few moments for her to register that her body was intact and it didn’t hurt every time she breathed.

It was a dream. It had only been a dream. Sunset took a few deep breaths to calm herself, shaking with relief.

Twilight didn’t hate her. She hadn’t come back yet, but she didn’t hate her. She still had friends.

She wanted to write to Twilight and tell her about the dream, but stopped herself. For some reason, she decided she didn’t want Twilight to know about it. It wasn’t because she thought she’d be upset about it, or even concerned. It just felt private.

Sunset flipped her pillow over to the cool side and laid back down. It was still late. She needed to try and get some sleep.

A few minutes of lying in the dark later, a thought came to her that troubled her.

She hadn’t fought back. When Twilight had been kicking her over and over, she hadn’t tried to hit her. She hadn’t even raised her arms to protect herself.

Sunset continued to lie in the dark, thinking it over. She waited a long time, but sleep never came.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing dream stories is one of my very favorite things to do for any fandom. I think they can be incredibly insightful for exploring a character's secret thoughts!
> 
> I imagine that Twilight's approval was very important for Sunset when she was just starting to change herself.


End file.
